The Printer’s Mark Of Immanuel Benveniste And Its Later Influence

10.1163/ej.9789004157590.i-420.6

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Chapter Summary

In the early centuries of printing, the makers of Hebrew books adorned the title pages of their works with an insignia to represent their printing house. These emblems or marks referred to the printer's "name, vocation, place of residence, ancestry, the quality of his work, the sovereign of the country, or simply a symbol of prosperity and good luck". A prestigious printer's mark, widely utilized over time in several lands, is less well recognized and its printer's name less well known than many other devices used less extensively on the title pages of Hebrew books. The printer's mark is that of Immanuel Benveniste, who printed Hebrew books in Amsterdam from 1641 to 1659. Immanuel Benveniste's escutcheon was an upright lion facing inward towards a tower; a star is above the lion and the tower. The lion is on the viewer's right, the tower on the left.